CRIMES THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN SOLVED

GARDNER MUSEUM

The Gardner Museum, named after Isabella Stewart Gardner

experienced the world’s biggest art heist ever on St. Patrick’s Day

in 1990. Two men, who posed as policemen sent to purportedly

investigate something, stole 13 paintings worth an estimated

$300 million. The artworks, which were hacked from their frames,

were apparently uninsured and in spite of a $5 million reward,

they were never found.

TUPAC SHAKUR, BIGGIE SMALLS

Tupac Shakur, listed as one of the most successful gangster rappers

ever, was killed in a drive-by shooting a few hours away after the

Mike Tyson-Bruce Sheldon match in September 1996, that he attended

with his record producer Suge Knight in Las Vegas. He died from

injuries six days later and six months later, his rival Biggie Smalls, 24,

was also gunned down in Los Angeles. Rumours have it that the two

former friends became entangled in hip-hop’s East Coast vs. West Coast

rivalry when Shakur switched teams. Investigations made by the

Los Angeles Times suggested that it was Smalls who paid the

Southside Crips to gun down Shakur. Meanwhile, a documentarian

named Nick Broomfield, implicated Suge Knight, who allegedly got rid of

Smalls to confuse authorities. Whatever the truth is, no one knows

as both cases remains open.

JONBENÉT RAMSEY

The six-year-old beauty queen of a wealthy Boulder, Colorado executive

was found bludgeoned and strangled to death in the basement of her

family home around Christmas of 1996.  Clashes between the family

and the police and district attorney fed the media frenzy while public

speculations centred on her parents John and Patsy Ramsey. They

appeared in media channels for years defending their innocence

and demanded justice for their daughter, until they were cleared from

any involvement in 2008 through the newly-discovered DNA evidence.  

Who the real culprit was, however, remains a mystery.

AMBER HAGERMAN

Amber Hagerman, 9, and her little brother Ricky, 5, were pedalling their

bikes to an abandoned grocery store on the afternoon of January 13, 1996.

Ricky went home alone, and an eyewitness, a 78-year old retiree,

accounted that Amber was biking alone when a man in a dark pickup

grabbed her and pulled her into the vehicle. He contacted the police,

who did a massive search along with some volunteers in the area.

She was found four days later on a creek bed, dead and had been sexually

assaulted for the two days she had been kept alive. No suspects had

been found but this led to the start of the now well-known Amber Alert,

an international child abduction alert bulletin.

CIUDAD JUARÉZ

On July 27, 2004, the body of Alma Brisa Molina Baca, a 34-year old factory

worker, was found dead in an empty lot in Ciudad Juaréz, Mexico. She had

been raped and strangled just like the 1,000 women or so, who

“disappeared” since 1993, most of them dumped in the desert.

This decade-long killing spree, which targets the poor workers at

nearby ‘maquiladoras’ or factories, has sparked Amnesty International

and other human rights advocates worldwide to urge the Mexican

authorities to find the killers.

THE AMSTERDAM DIAMOND HEIST

This is not as disturbing as some of the other crimes, but what is crazy

about this heist is the fact that it was pulled off in broad daylight before

multiple witnesses. Two men disguised as KLM employees rode a stolen

car from the cargo terminal of Amsterdam Schipol Airport and hijacked a

truck carrying uncut diamonds estimated at US $118 million bound for Antwerp.

The police hinted at an inside job though they have yet to solve the case.

ALEXANDER LITVINENKO

If you like spy stories, this will definitely captivate you. A former officer

of the Russian Federal Security Officer, FSB and KGB, Alexander Litvinenko

had received political asylum in the United Kingdom. However, on November 1,

2006, he became the first person ever to be poisoned with polonium.

He died a few days later and speculations on who could inflict such a

merciless murder became rampant though no one was charged.

The mystery only fanned the fear and mass hysteria regarding the use

of biological and chemical weapons.

THE SALISH SEA FOOT MYSTERY

When several detached feet washed up on the shores of the Salish Sea

in British Columbia, some officials didn’t think it too odd as they may

have come from boating accidents or plane crashes. What was strange

about these feet, however, was the fact that they kept washing up and

every single one of them had running shoes on. Speculations range from

suicides to tsunami victims but as of yet, there has been no

official conclusion.